Born to be Wild
by NycteaScandiaca
Summary: Updated! Yay! That took me quite a while. I'm sooo sorry! Daryl is missing while on vacation in Africa. Can Jim, Blair and Simon find him before something bad happens? My first fanfic! Please R&R...
1. Missing

Disclaimer: I don't own the guys, all I own is the little figures that popped out of my imagination. I'm not making any money with this story: it's all for the sake of having fun. (You know? Fun? You don't? Hmm… get a life!)  
Don't sue me, or I'll be forced to let my 3-month-old Golden Retriever puppy loose on you. I swear, the little critter is totally crazy, and did I mention that she has really sharp teeth?

**_Born to be Wild  
_****Laura Hannivoort**

**_Major Crimes Unit, Cascade, WA  
Friday, 24th May, 4.17 p.m._**

Tired but with a smile on his face, Detective Jim Ellison entered the bullpen of the Major Crimes Unit. He walked right through to Captain Simon Banks' office, knowing he'd want to know how the trial had gone. His partner, Blair Sandburg, an anthropologist and police observer, but also Jim's best friend and Guide to his Sentinel abilities, followed close behind.

"Jim, come in, how did it go?" Banks asked, already knowing how it went by just looking at his best detective's and friend's face.

"Couldn't ask for more. Baker received life sentence and won't be out on the streets for quite a while." Jim answered with a tired grin.

Baker had killed 5 young women in the last 3 weeks. Ellison had worked day and night to catch this serial killer, who first viciously mutilated his victims, before leaving them out in an alley or in a park, letting them die a slow, lonely death. Ellison finally caught him, while he was working on his 6th victim, who screamed out loud enough for Ellison's enhanced hearing to pick up. When he arrived to the scene, he saw Baker bending over a young lady, hitting her in the face, terrifying her. He had a knife in his hands and meant to use it when Jim pulled up, with his gun pointed at the killer, yelling at Baker to stop. Baker dropped the knife and ran off. Jim checked out the girl, making sure she wasn't badly wounded and assuring her that back-up was right behind, then he ran after the killer. After a 10-minute chase, he finally caught up with Baker. They struggled for a bit, but soon Ellison got the better of Baker, and arrested him.

The trial had been long, but Ellison wanted to see this one through until the end. Now that it was finally over, he felt like doing nothing else but going to bed and sleep for a week.

It seemed to Blair that Jim was about to fall asleep in this very office, and realized it must have been a long time since Jim had a decent night's sleep. He caught Simon's attention and pointed to Jim, who was indeed going through a lot of trouble trying to keep his eyes open.

Seeing what Sandburg meant, Simon said, "Go home, Jim, take next week off. God knows how much sleep you had in the last couple of weeks, but it couldn't have been much. Get some sleep, rest up, and I don't want to see you in this building until Monday next week, got it?"

"Yes, sir", Jim answered, while getting up from his chair. As he walked out the door, he handed his car keys to Blair, and together they walked towards the elevators.

_He must really be out of it, to let Blair drive his truck_, Simon thought with a smile. At the same time the phone started ringing. "Banks" he said. After 2 seconds, his smile faded, and his voice started to waver a bit. "Yes, I'm his father."

* * *

As they waited for the elevator to reach the Mayor Crimes floor, Jim heard Simon's phone ringing. _He'd better not give the case to me; I'm off for the week._ He dialed up his hearing, and listened to the phone call, curious about what the new case is.

"Banks"

"_Is this Simon Banks, Daryl's father?_"

"Yes, I'm his father"

"_I'm Tony, a friend of Daryl's, I went with him on that trip to Africa. I'm afraid Daryl's missing. We wanted to move early today, at 6. Daryl hadn't shown up yet at 5:30, when we were gonna get breakfast. We went to check his tent, but it was empty. It looked like he hadn't been there all night._"

"What the... How could he be gone all night?"

"_He was gonna walk around a bit last night. Check out the surroundings, you know?_"

"All alone? At night? How could you let him wander around in Africa all alone? He might be eaten by a lion by now, for all we know!" By know, Jim could see that Simon was getting anxious. Grabbing Sandburg by the shoulder just as the elevator arrived, and pulling him along, he went back to Banks' office.

"_He wasn't alone! One of our guides, Mr. Masemi was with him. He didn't come back either. Our other guide, Mr. Halika went to look for them, but he just came back and couldn't find a trace. We're doing all we can to find him. Local villagers are looking everywhere. We'll find them, sir, I promise. I just thought I had to let you know._"

"I know, thank you. But tell me where exactly you are. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"_Sir, you don't have to come here. By the time..._"

"Don't you dare argue with me!" Banks was raging by now. "My son is lost in the African jungle, and I'm gonna go find him. No one is gonna stop me. So where are you?"

"_We're now at Lake Manyara Hotel, Tanzania. We set up a sort of base of operations there, because our campsite was nearby._"

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can, but it'll take a while to get there. Let me know if you find anything, okay?"

"_Right sir, we'll be waiting._"

Simon let out a sigh when he put the phone down. "You heard it all?" he asked Jim.

"Yes, sir, I did." Jim answered with a nod. Blair, having heard enough to understand the problem, nodded too.

"Alright, Jim, let Joel know he's in charge for a couple of days. I'm going to the airport and catch the first plane to Tanzania."

"Excuse me sir, but there are two things. One, you can't go to Africa without preparing yourself, with medication, proper clothing, arranging some kind of transportation, and two, you're not going to Africa alone. I'm going with you."

When Simon tried to say something about there being no reason for more people to go there, Blair interrupted. "Sir, I think Jim's right. You can't just fly off to Africa alone. The more people there are to help search, the better the chances are of finding your son. Especially if you have Jim to help in the search. And of course I'm coming along too, to help Jim with his senses. Besides, you just gave us the whole next week off, so there isn't anything we'll be missing except for a couple of Jags games."

Knowing it was useless to further discuss this with two determined men, Simon threw up his hands in submission. "Alright, but I'm not paying for your tickets!" As he looked at his friends, he said, "Thanks guys, I really appreciate it."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. Off to Africa

**_Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, WA  
Monday 27th May, 8.54 a.m._**

Jim, Blair and Simon entered the departure hall of Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, Washington. They had needed the entire Saturday for preparations, such as malaria medication, proper clothing and such. They had figured there wouldn't be a good connection to Africa on Sunday, and they had to take their malaria meds a couple of days before entering the risk area, so they had left for Seattle early Monday morning. Simon went to check out what the best option was for getting to Tanzania, while Jim and Blair looked after their luggage.

"You know Jim, this is the best place to test your sense of smell. See if you can focus on that lady's perfume and keep concentrating on it as long as you can. Just filter out everything else."

"Chief, I'm really not up for this right now."

"Aw, come on, we won't get an opportunity like this in a while. A big, crowded airport, many different perfumes, not to speak of the body odors of thousands of people racing to catch their plane, numerous shops with different smells. Please Jim, just give it a try."

Jim closed his eyes and tried to focus on the coconut shampoo of someone who just walked by. He lost his concentration after a few seconds. "Listen Chief, I can't concentrate like this: there are too many odors here, too much noise, and I'm too tired to filter everything out. As soon as we get on a plane, I'm gonna sleep till we get where we're supposed to be."

"And you'll have plenty of time to sleep." Simon had walked back to his friends. "There's a flight to Amsterdam, the Netherlands at 1.15. From there we can go to Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We'll arrive there at 8.30 tomorrow evening, local time. You'll have 9 and a half hours to sleep on the flight to Amsterdam, and nearly 9 hours on the way to Tanzania. Just make sure you're rested up sleep-wise, because you're gonna get a hell of a jetlag with 10 hours time difference."

Seeing the look on his friends' faces, he laughed. "Look on the bright side. It's the first available flight, it's the cheapest flight to Tanzania, also the one with the least stopovers, plus, we got a discount, because it's last-minute."

The three men walked to the nearest Northwest counter, bought their tickets and checked in their bags. Having practically emptied their bank accounts – Jim and Simon both chipped in for Blair, who always seemed to be out of money – they went straight to the gate, avoiding the shops. They didn't want to spend more money than they needed to.

When they arrived at the gate, they found it wasn't very crowded. It was still early, and the previous flight had just finished boarding, leaving the gate's waiting area nearly empty. Simon and Jim sat down, and the latter immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep. Simon looked like he could use a nap too. Blair, who had slept during the trip from Cascade to Seattle, quietly said: "You go to sleep too, Simon. I'll keep an eye on the bags."

"Be careful you don't fall asleep too, Chief. Don't want our bags to get stolen."

"I thought you were asleep." Blair said, looking at Jim, who still had his eyes closed.

"I was, but I dialed up my hearing, so I'd hear it when someone does try to get close to our bags."

"Good, so it doesn't matter if I do fall asleep."

"Right."

Within seconds, Jim was in dream world again. Simon followed him after a few minutes, but Blair managed to stay awake for an hour. When he did fall asleep, the waiting area was slowly filling up with other passengers.

* * *

**_11.58 a.m._**

Ellison slowly crawled out of his slumber. His heightened senses had caught the sound of a fast-beating heart nearby. Slowly he opened his eyes, and he noticed that Sandburg had fallen asleep. Feeling a bit stiff from sleeping on the uncomfortable chair, he turned his head towards their bags and saw a man grab Simon's bag. Jim didn't want to cause a panic in the waiting area, so he decided to leave his gun in its holster. He grabbed his badge and jumped in front of the thief, holding his badge in front of the man's face.

"This must be your lucky day," he said. "You just tried to steal my boss' bag. Not a good idea." Jim grabbed the guy's arm. The man was desperately trying to get away from the taller man, but Jim held on.

Simon and Blair woke up, startled to see Jim stand in front of a man with Simon's bag in his hand.

"Sandburg, go get Airport Security. Well, mister," Banks said, turning to the thief. "It looks like you picked the wrong day, the wrong place and the wrong people to rob. You're under arrest."

Jim threw the man onto one of the seats and kept an eye on him, while Blair ran off to get an airport police officer. A minute later, he returned, with a uniformed man running behind him.

"Thank you for catching this guy. We've had quite a lot of trouble with thieves here. Especially the last week has been bad. Now we got at least one in custody. Get up, sir. You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. If you wish to give up that right, anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights?" The man nodded.

"Thanks again. We really appreciate it."

"No trouble at all. Glad to have been of help," Ellison reassured the officer.

After the officer led the arrested man off, Jim sat down again and looked at his watch. _12.08, a bit more than 20 minutes until boarding starts. No use going to sleep now. _Simon and Blair seemed to have the same idea. They talked for a while until it was finally time to board.

* * *

"_Welcome to Northwest Airways, flight 34 to Amsterdam. Boarding will start in a few minutes. Please let families with children board first, thank you._"

They waited for a couple of minutes, until all the families had boarded, and then they got up and walked towards the gate. They handed their boarding passes to the clerks and walked through the passenger bridge, towards the plane. They went towards the back of the plane. Jim checked his pass. _Seat 27B. Great, in the front of the second part of the plane. Enough room to spread my legs._ He lifted his bag and put it in the overhead bin.

Blair took the window seat and took his bag with him. Simon sat down across the aisle, on 27C. He settled down quickly and grabbed the in-flight magazine in the pocket in front of him. Blair took his walkman out of his backpack and put it on, immediately oblivious to the rest of the world, just as Jim. He fell asleep again, the moment he sat down on the wide chair of the DC-10. He woke as the TV screen in front of him showed the pre-flight instructions, with the emergency procedures and exits. Next the Captain wished the passengers a pleasant flight. As soon as everything was silent again, Jim was out cold.

The plane quietly moved towards the runway. When it was cleared for take-off, the engines started to roar. Ellison woke again with a start. He winced in pain as he covered his ears with his hands. Sandburg immediately put his hand on his partner and helped him dial his hearing down again. After a while Jim started to relax again. He swallowed hard a couple of times as the pressure in the cabin dropped. A couple of minutes later, the plane leveled out a bit, nearing cruising altitude.

"What happened?" Blair asked.

"I fell asleep again and forgot to dial down. Geez, that was some wake up call." He shook his head to lose the buzz in his ears.

"Go back to sleep, Jim. I'll wake you when we approach Amsterdam."

Jim complied immediately.

* * *

**_Nearing Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, the Netherlands  
Tuesday 28th May, 7.23 a.m._**

The flight was uneventful. There had been hardly any turbulence. Sandburg had watched the first movie, _Minority Report_, and fell asleep afterwards. All three of them slept soundly for the most of the flight. Simon and Blair had woken up when it was time for a meal – they didn't know whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner, because they hadn't had lunch or dinner yet, but the local time was about 7 a.m. After that they slept once again. The two of them woke as the copilot's voice echoed through the speakers. They found Jim already in the process of waking up. He had sensed the pressure rise a bit, drawing him out of a long sleep.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching Schiphol Airport. We have started our descent and we will touch down in about 20 minutes. The weather in Amsterdam: clouded and an occasional shower. The temperature is about 13 °C or 55 °F. The time is 7.24 a.m. We hope you had a pleasant flight._"

Jim yawned. He had slept for more than 9 hours on end. _I could use a shower right about now_, he thought. He did feel less tired and thanked the front seats, because if there's one thing he hated about planes, was being cramped up with no place to put his long legs. He looked at Simon, who seemed to have felt the same way.

"I could use something to eat. How about we go grab a bite when we get out of this plane?"

Although both Blair and Simon had eaten on the plane, they had become hungry too. "We've both eaten already, but I could use something too. How about you, Simon?"

"Yeah, me too. You were really out of it Jim. I've never seen you sleep so soundly."

"That's probably because I had dialed my hearing down to almost zero. I wouldn't even wake up if the plane was hijacked," Jim answered with a smile.

"Sandburg, what's it like out there?" Simon asked.

"Cold and wet."

Jim and Simon both grinned. Blair and cold didn't mix, neither did Blair and wet.

"You're lucky we're only stopping over. You'll get to a much warmer place in 12 hours."

After a couple of minutes, the plane touched down on the wet concrete. It slowly taxied towards the gate.

"_Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Schiphol Airport. Please remain seated until the plane has come to a complete standstill and the 'fasten seatbelt' sign has been turned off. Be careful when opening the overhead storage. Thank you for flying Northwest airlines and we wish you a pleasant stay._"

* * *

Even before the 'fasten seatbelt' sign was turned off, most of the passengers had risen from their seats and slowly made their way towards the exits. The men from Major Crimes stayed in their seats until the doors opened and the passengers could get out of the plane. After they got out, they walked around the airport, in search for a place to grab a bite to eat. Their bags would be transferred by Schiphol's crew, so they didn't have to worry about that. After a while they found the 'Nautilus Café'. They grabbed a couple of sandwiches and rolls – Sandburg added a salad – paid for it, and searched for a place to sit down. They found a place by the window, where they could see planes landing and taking off every few minutes. After they finished eating, they talked about what they were up against the next few days.

"We're not gonna be in the middle of the rainy season, are we?" Blair asked, while he was looking out of the window at the gray sky and rain falling out of it.

"No, it's dry season now. But don't be too happy about it. It can get really uncomfortable in Africa during the dry season." Jim added when he saw Blair's face brighten up. "I'll bet that you'll start performing some kind of rain dance within two days."

"No way, man, not me. I hate getting wet. There's no way I'm gonna do a rain dance or hope for rain. I'll only wish for rain if I'm burning alive."

The two older men laughed at the thought of Sandburg in flames, doing a rain dance. Then they turned serious.

"What do you think could have happened to Daryl, sir?" Blair asked Simon.

"I wish I had a clue. All I can do is hope he's still alive, not eaten by some wild animal."

"I'm sure he's okay, Simon. Besides, there's a guide out there with him. They'll be fine." Jim said with a reassuring smile. Although he didn't show it, but he was worried that the kid wasn't fine at all. There's no way he could outrun a lion or another predator. He just hoped that wasn't what the kid was up against.

The men fell silent for a couple of minutes. Then they slowly got up and put their trays away. They walked to the shopping area and looked around there. After a while, they got bored and decided to buy a cup of coffee and sit down somewhere.

* * *

**_10.05 a.m._**

When it was time to board again, they walked to the gate and entered the plane. With Jim up front, they searched for their seats. 25A, B and C. Not much room for long legs this time. They were right in the middle of the plane, overlooking the huge wings. As before, Blair took the window seat, being the smallest and needing the least space for his legs. Jim sat down next to him and Simon across the aisle.

This time, Jim remembered to dial his hearing down before the plane took off from Schiphol Airport. The three talked for a while, until lunch arrived. After that, Blair put his earphones on and listened to his walkman, while reading a Anthropology book he got out of the library at Rainier University. Jim just closed his eyes and listened to all the sounds and feeling the vibrations of the plane. Simon took to reading the magazine in the front pocket.

About an hour later, the first movie started: The Recruit, with Al Pacino and Colin Farrell. All three watched the action packed movie, and afterwards they discussed the good and the bad things about the movie. Jim finally decided to go back to sleep, while Blair returned to his Anthropology book. Simon stayed awake, curious to know what the second movie was. It turned out to be a Dutch movie, called 'Liever Verliefd'. Simon checked out the in-flight magazine and read the part about the second movie. 'Rather in Love' is a romantic comedy about a girl who got dumped for the umpteenth time and decides never to fall in love again. However, she does manage to fall in love after all, with two men... _Whatever. I'll watch it for a bit; see if it's worthwhile. _After ten minutes of Dutch gibberish, he gave up and went back to his magazine.

* * *

**_Mt. Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania  
Tuesday, 28th May, 8.48 p.m._**

A couple of hours later, the plane once again started descending. As before, Jim woke because of the slight rise in cabin pressure. Blair looked up from his book. They both looked out the window. It was already getting dark. Just past the wing, they could see a couple of storm clouds with lightning flashing out of them. Apart from those few clouds, the sky – ground in their case – was clear. Here and there, Jim could discern campfires. After a while, they could see Mt. Kilimanjaro rise up. The captain made the usual speech about the weather at their destination.

The landing went smoothly and soon the three friends were out of the plane and felt the still warm and humid air in Tanzania, walking towards the airport building. They retrieved their bags, thankful that for once their bags was among the first load out of the aircraft.

They went straight to Car Rental, rented a Land Rover Defender 4WD, bought a map, and discussed about what to do.

"We probably should go to a hotel and go to Lake Manyara tomorrow." Banks told his companions, disappointed at arriving at 8.45 p.m. and not being able to go straight on to their final destination.

"Or, I could drive to Lake Manyara, you two get some sleep and we'll might even arrive before midnight," Jim said. When he saw the concerned look on his partner's face, he added: "I've had about 16 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. I'm not tired at all. And besides, with me behind the wheel, you don't have to worry about dropping off the side of the road."

"That's exactly what I'm concerned about," Simon said with a grin. "With you behind the wheel, there's no telling where we'll end up. But you're right. You can get us there before anyone else can, and we'll be able to start searching for Daryl as soon as it's dawn."

The men got in the 4x4, with Blair next to Jim. "Just don't focus too much on the road and zone out on us, okay Jim?"

"That's why you're here, Chief. You have to keep me on the ground. But don't worry. It's not too dark, the moon's out."

With those words, he started the car and drove off. After a while, Blair and Simon dozed off. The first hour went by smoothly. There was an asphalt road, and it was in good shape. When they got in less inhabited areas, it turned into a sandy road. Occasionally the sleeping men awoke, as the car dropped into a pothole as wide as the road itself, so Jim couldn't possibly avoid it.

After another three hours, they entered something of a jungle. Ellison could smell the salty water of Lake Manyara. They had to be close now. When he came across a crossing, he checked the map before turning left. After a couple of miles of turns and potholes, which woke up his friends, Ellison could see a light up ahead, among the trees. They had arrived.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Search for Clues

**_Lake Manyara Hotel, _****_Lake Manyara National Park_****_, _****_Tanzania_****_  
Wednesday 29th May, _****_12.30 a.m._**

The three men entered the hotel and were met by a black man about Simon's size. "Welcome to Lake Manyara Hotel. You must be looking for a room. And how did you get here in the middle of the night?"

"I'm Simon Banks, this is Jim Ellison and Blair Sa..."

"Banks? Are you the lost boy's father? Follow me, please."

Before they could reply, the man walked off towards a room at the back of the hotel. Glancing at each other, they decided to follow him.

When they entered the room, they saw 3 teenage boys and a girl sleeping in their sleeping bags, and an older man, sitting on a couch, looking at what appeared to be a map.

This man noticed the newcomers enter and walked towards them.

"You must be Daryl's father," the man said in a soft voice. "I'm Joshua Halika, one of the group's guides."

"Simon Banks. This is Jim Ellison and his partner Blair Sandburg. Any news on where he might be?"

"None at all, sir. Search parties were out all day, but couldn't find a trace."

"What have you covered so far?" Jim asked Halika. The man walked back to the maps on the couch and the others followed him. The movement across the room woke the teenagers, and they stared at the unknown men. One of them got up and walked towards Simon.

"Mr. Banks? I'm Tony Krindle, the one who called you Friday. I'm really sorry, sir," the boy said with his head down.

"Hey, I'm just glad you called me. I'd have shown you my worst side if I had found out about it later." Turning back to Halika, he repeated Ellison's question. "Where have you searched so far?"

"Your son and Masemi said they were going towards the lake. We searched the whole area from the hotel to the lake that's within walking distance. We found a few traces, telling us they did go there in the first place. However, when we went on, we couldn't find anything, nor could we find proof they went another way."

"Okay, I'd like your groups to continue searching as you had been, and Ellison, Sandburg and I will go our own way, and see if we can find something out."

"Right," Halika said, wondering for a while if it was wise to let these three out in the wild without a guide, but let the thought go. They'd probably know how to take care of themselves. He already had enough people to take care of.

"Let's rest until sunrise, then we'll go out to search."

Halika and the kids went back to their sleeping bags, while Jim, Blair and Simon went back to their car. They discussed what they were gonna do the next morning, which came down to the general idea that Jim just reached out with his senses, and wander around till he picked something up. After that, they grabbed some blankets and went to sleep.

* * *

**Wednesday, 29th May, 5.30 a.m.**

Jim was the first to wake up, when the first signs of light reached the sky above. He gently laid his hand on Blair, waking him up. A groan behind him told him that Simon had also started to wake up. Blair yawned out loud. Simon followed his lead.

"Please, don't do tha…" The rest of Jim's words were caught up in a yawn of his own. "Damn, too late. You two made me yawn too."

They got out of the car and walked into the hotel, straight to the room they were in last night. When they entered, they saw four sleepy heads, sticking out of their respective sleeping bags. Halika was already up, studying his map. He looked up at the three and greeted them.

"We'd like to go as soon as possible. We'll grab something to eat at the restaurant, then we'll be off," Banks told the guide. The guide nodded in response.

They left the room again, just as the teenagers were getting out of their bags, rubbing their eyes. They went to the hotel's restaurant and asked for a few sandwiches. Eating them while they walked, they went outside and went to their car.

The first place they went was the place where Halika had said they had found traces of the two missing people. They came to a sandy spot, where there were many footprints. A little way off, however, they could see two other sets of footprints. Jim studied the prints and figured that one person was wearing sandals or something, size 9, and was heavier than the other, who wore smaller sized hiking boots.

"These prints must be Daryl and Masemi's. I'll see if I can find more clues."

As Blair put an anchoring hand on his friend's back, Jim heightened his eyesight. He saw the prints move a little further into the woods, but lost them as the grass covered their trail. One by one, he checked his other senses. Nothing.

"Can't find anything, sir," Jim said, shaking his head. "Now what do we… Wait. I smell something." He took a slow breath, trying to determine what it was and where it came from. "I can't identify it. I can hardly smell it, but it's there."

He walked off to his left, leaving the footprints behind him. Simon and Blair followed him. A strong wind was now coming from behind, so not even the Sentinel could smell it anymore.

When they walked for a mile or so, crouching now and then to avoid branches, the wind suddenly turned. Blair and Simon turned away as they smelled the horrible odor of rotting flesh. Jim had his sense of smell dialed up to the max, to pick up even the slightest trace of what he smelled before. Now it hit him like a sledgehammer. He fell to his knees and coughed, almost choking. He tried to stand up, but fell backwards as dizziness hit him. His vision turned black as he fought two battles: to get his dials down and to stay conscious. He barely noticed Sandburg kneeling beside him, talking in his soft, low, Guide voice.

"Jim, listen to me. You got to find those dials. Close your eyes, imagine the dials for smell and turn them down to a minimum. Come on Jim, stay with me. Turn down those dials."

Guided by Blair's voice, he found the right dials and turned them down. He stayed there for a while, barely conscious and with a terrible headache. He didn't feel like getting up yet. He was lying comfortably on the ground. Then he remembered what he had smelled. Rotting flesh. Rotting human flesh. He got up, but grabbed Blair as he noticed he was still dizzy. Simon, who had stayed away while Blair did his job, grabbed hold of Jim.

"Let's go, Jim," he said. "It's probably just one of the thousands of animal carcasses in all of Africa, killed off by a lion a week ago."

"I hate to say this, sir," Jim answered while trying to block out the smell, "but I'm sure it's a human body. Human flesh has a different scent. Besides, I can smell some of the herbs I noticed back at the hotel. This person must have been there."

Jim led the way to the place the corpse was. He heard a gasp from Simon as a part of the body came in sight. It was the body of a young, black man. Jim focused in on the body and heaved a sigh of relief.

"It's not Daryl, sir. It must be the guide."

He moved closer to the body, with Banks and Sandburg close behind. He kneeled next to the body, and saw a tiny needle hole in the dead man's neck. Scanning the area, he found a blow dart a couple of feet off.

"I think he got hit by this dart here," he told the others, while walking towards where the dart lay, "managed to get the dart out, stumbled a couple of feet further, and died."

He searched his pockets and found that he still had a few plastic bags in his pocket, which he always carried to crime scenes. He carefully picked up the dart and put it in the bag. A little behind the needle of the dart, he could see a blackish-brown, sticky substance. Smelling it, he found that it had a bit of a plant-like smell. _Maybe one of the locals knows what this is._

* * *

After they made sure there wasn't anything else to find, they returned to the hotel. There they'd ask if anyone was willing to pick up the body and give it a proper burial.

When Jim showed the dart to one of the people of the village, the man became very excited. "Aco! Aco! No good stuff," he exclaimed while pointing at the plastic bag and its contents. Jim tried to get the man to explain, but he couldn't get anything useful out of him, except that it's 'no good stuff'. Blair and Simon noticed that everyone around them had stopped what they were doing when they heard the feared word.

"It is a very deadly poison," Halika said, walking up to the trio. "It is used by bad people, who kill animals for money. A little bit of Aco can kill any human. Very bad stuff."

"Wait a minute," Blair said to his friends. "I've heard of this stuff. It's called Acocanthera. It's used by poachers, because it can kill even the biggest creatures on the face of the planet. They put the Acocanthera plant in a pot and let it boil for 3 to 4 days. Then they remove the lid and leave it for a day. The poison is so powerful that they put the pot in a deep pit and keep everyone away, except for the man who extracts the poison. They test its potency by cutting a vein of someone, let the blood drip down his arm and put a little bit of the substance on the lower part of the arm. The poison turns the blood black. The faster the blood turns black, the stronger the poison is. You might want to make sure you don't have the tiniest scratch on your hand before touching it."

Simon, who was just about to inspect the dart, quickly pulled his hand out of the plastic bag and gave it back to Jim.

"Oh, thanks Simon. Put me up with it. What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Well, you can't leave it here, some local kids might pick it up and play with it. So we have to take it somewhere safe."

"I heard they also use Aco at ranger stations, to capture large animals alive. They might have a storage for the stuff," Blair suggested.

"And since you're the one who found it, you get the honor of keeping it with you until we get to a ranger station."

"Really, you guys are too much. Thanks for letting me keep this stuff for a while and giving me a chance to accidentally kill myself."

Turning to Halika, Jim said: "Who, besides poachers and rangers, use this Aco-stuff?"

"Nobody, sir. It is too dangerous. We do not take any risks."

"Where is the nearest ranger station?"

"The road heading southeast from the hotel leads to a ranger station. Are you thinking that they killed my friend?"

"No, I don't think so, but they should know if there are poachers around or not. That would get us closer to finding Daryl and your friend's killer."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	4. Reaction

**_Lake Manyara Ranger Station  
Wednesday, 29th May, 10.30 a.m._**

They pulled up to the Ranger station. Jim parked the car right in front of the station. Upon entering the building, they found two tall men sitting at a table, playing cards.

They looked up at the three men entering and introduced themselves. "Good morning. My name is Bruce Dunlop and this is Ranger Bobby Minscot. What can I do for you?"

"I'm Jim Ellison, this is my boss, Simon Banks, and my partner Blair Sandburg. We're police officers from the United States and we're looking for Simon's son Daryl, who disappeared around here."

"Ah, yes. I heard about that. Have you found out anything yet?"

"Well, we found the guide that disappeared along with Daryl. He was killed by a blow-dart with Acocanthera. We heard that poachers like to use that stuff. Do you know about any poaching activity around here?"

"Nope. Haven't seen a sign of poachers for about six months now," Minscot hastily answered.

"Actually," Dunlop said, "there have been spottings of dead animals with their tails and horns cut off, but nothing big." Dunlop's reply received a dark glare from Minscot. Jim noticed that Minscot's heartbeat had risen a notch and seemed to be nervous about something. He made a mental note to see what this guy was up to.

"Where did you find the carcasses?"

"Scattered all over the jungle and I heard from other rangers that they spotted a few on their plains too."

"If you find any other traces of poachers, could you let us know? We're staying near the hotel, so you can reach us there."

"Sure thing. I hope you find the kid."

"Thanks for your time."

* * *

They got back in the car and drove off. When they were out of sight and out of hearing, Jim stopped the car.

"What are you doing?" Blair asked.

"I don't trust that Minscot guy. He tried to convince us there were no traces of poachers and glared at his partner when he told us that they had found some dead animals. I think he's up to something."

"I know what you mean. Even I could see that the guy answered that question too quickly and that it was a lie," said Simon. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna double back and see if he tries something. If he has something to do with those poachers, there's no doubt he'll want to cover it up as soon as possible. You two wait here."

He got out of the car and walked back to the station, with his hearing dialed up.

_"What was that all about, Bobby? You know about the carcasses we found. How come you told them that we didn't?"_

_"I forgot. Completely slipped my mind okay?" _The voice lowered to a whisper Dunlop couldn't have heard. _"And I'll make it slip your mind too."_

Jim started running towards the building, but he was too late. He heard a gunshot and saw Minscot running out the back door. Jim ran inside and found Dunlop lying there with a bullet hole in the back of his head. As a routine, Jim felt for a pulse, but he'd already failed to hear a heartbeat or the sound of breathing. The guy was dead.

He ran out the back door, following Minscot. After a couple of minutes, he spotted him walking a little way off. Suddenly felt the earth give way below him and he fell.

As he lay on his back, still stunned from the fall, he could hear voices somewhere.

_"You look like you just ran a marathon. What's going on?"_ He heard a deep voice and felt a shudder going through him.

_"Those American cops showed up and asked questions about poachers. I tried to cover it up, but Dunlop told them we found a couple of stripped animal carcasses. After the cops went away, Dunlop questioned me about telling them we hadn't found anything. He suspected I had something to do with all this, so I killed him."_

_"That doesn't matter. Just take care of those cops too. I don't need anyone else snooping around here, just when we're planning to cash in big."_

After his mind cleared a little, Jim thought: _'anyone else'? So Masemi did find out about them, and probably Daryl did, too. What did they do to him? I'll worry about that later, now I need to get out of here and alert Simon._

He looked up and saw that he was in a pit about 15 feet in diameter. Around him, he saw large stakes pointing upwards. _Geez, I'm glad I didn't fall on one of those._

He tried to stand up, but he immediately sat back down, grabbing his right ankle. The ankle was probably sprained a bit when he landed on it. He inspected the walls of his prison. There was no way he could climb out of here, even if he hadn't hurt his ankle. He was stuck in there, probably until the poachers checked out their traps and found him in there.

He extended his hearing, to see if there was anyone or anything around. He heard a couple of vervet monkeys chattering in a tree nearby, the flapping of great wings as he saw a stork fly over the hole, a large crocodile grunting in his sleep on the bank of a little river, a voice, a lion roaring loudly, content and with a full stomach... _a voice? Blair. And Simon too._

_"I saw him go in this direction, but then I lost him. Maybe we should split up and search."_

_"I think we should stick together, Sandburg. There's no telling what we'll run into here."_

_"Right. Let's head this way."_

Jim was just about to shout out loud, but realized his friends were too far away to hear him. He thought about firing his gun, but that would bring the poachers on him in the blink of an eye. He'd just have to wait. They were going in the right direction, so it would just be a matter of time before they reached the trap.

Right when Jim thought his friends were coming within earshot, they turned away.

_"I don't think he's here, Sandburg. There's just open plains here. We should've been able to see him if he were here. Let's double back to the clearing and head in another direction."_

_"Hmm, okay, I guess you're right. Let's go."_

Jim suddenly grew desperate and shouted at the top of his lungs, but they couldn't hear him. Looking around, he found nothing with which he could get them to turn back again. Then he heard the chattering again. The monkeys. They had become silent when Jim shouted, but now they picked up where they had left off. Maybe he could make them give some kind of alarm. He stood up, picked up a small rock and threw it towards the monkeys, careful not to hit any of them.

The vervet monkeys did exactly what Jim expected. They shrieked in alarm and in an instant, the air was full of monkey shouts.

* * *

Blair and Simon had just turned back, when they heard shrieking and excited chattering. They turned around and saw a bunch of monkeys heading their way, jumping from tree to tree above their heads.

They glanced at each other and without a word, they ran in the direction the monkeys had just come from. When they once again reached the spot they had been before, they could still see nothing. They looked around, nothing. Up the trees, nothing. They walked a bit further, until they were almost out of the forest.

"I'm over here! Blair, Simon!" They heard someone shouting.

"Where?" Blair said at a normal level, not wasting his breath and knowing Jim could hear him anyway.

"In a big hole ahead of you!"

They ran up a slight slope and then they saw the hole.

"You fell into an elephant trap? Oh my God, Jim! Are you hurt? You're not on one of those stakes, are you?"

"No, Chief, I didn't get shish kebabed. I sprained my ankle a bit, but nothing to worry about. Just get me out of here!"

"With what?"

"Try and find some vines strong enough to hold me, or fetch a rope from the Land Rover!"

Blair and Simon looked around, but couldn't find any vines strong enough to hold Jim. Blair started running of towards the Land Rover, but Jim called him back.

"Blair, wait! Simon, you go with him. He might be attacked by a stalking predator."

"But..."

"Chief, I'll be fine here. No lion or leopard is stupid enough to jump in here." Jim interrupted Blair. He smiled at the reply he knew he was going to receive.

"Yeah, only a Sentinel with his heightened senses on full alert could possibly be stupid enough to fall in a trap that's right in front of him," Blair shouted as he started off again, Simon close behind.

* * *

As he listened to his two friends run off, Jim checked his surroundings again, even though he knew he hadn't missed anything. Suddenly he started to feel a bit dizzy. _What the heck?_ He managed to sit down again just as a wave of nausea hit him. His prison started spinning. He clenched his eyes shut and fought to keep his sandwiches in his stomach.

He felt a rope drop nearby. "Jim, can you climb up?" He heard Blair's voice though the buzzing in his ears.

"Just a sec," he managed to utter weakly.

"Jim? What's up? Are you okay, man?"

Jim looked up and saw Blair's head spinning along with the rest of the world. Lowering his head in his hands, he replied: "Don't feel so good."

Simon joined Blair at the edge of the hole. "I'm going down and see if I can help him climb up. See if you can tie the rope around a tree somewhere."

"Right. Hang on Jim, Simon's coming down to get you."

As Simon reached the bottom of the pit, he found Jim totally out of the world. He reached out to touch his shoulder, when Jim's hand pushed his away. Jim looked up at him and Simon was completely taken aback by what he saw. The blue eyes that were normally full of confidence were now filled with fear.

"Jim, it's me, Simon. You fell into a hole and we need to get you out of here. Let me support you and I'll help you climb up."

Blair anxiously looked down on the two. "Simon? What's happening to him? Is he alright?"

"I don't know. He seems confused and afraid. We need to get him out of this place and find out what's wrong with him." He grabbed Jim's arm and put his own arm across his waist. "Hang on to me, buddy. I'm gonna need both hands, so you'll have to hold on, okay?"

"Hm-mm."

Simon felt Jim's arms hold on to him tighter as he started to climb up. Occasionally Jim's grip loosened and Simon kept him from falling by circling his long legs around Jim's waist and encourage him to hold him tighter.

Blair released the breath he was holding when he saw Simon scramble out of the hole, pulling Jim with him.

"Let's get him in the truck and back to the hotel."

They lifted the nearly limp body and carried him towards the truck. Placing him between the two of them, Simon drove off. In the meantime, Blair tried to reach Jim.

"Jim, can you hear me? How do you feel?" He put his hand on Jim's forehead. "Man, I think he's got a pretty high fever. Jim, please. I need to know what happened, so I can help you."

Blair heard soft mumbling, but couldn't figure out the words. "What's that? I didn't hear that."

"Mmm... headache... sick..."

Blair thought for a while and said: "Could it be an allergic reaction or something? The anti-malaria pills! I read there were a lot of side effects, and knowing Jim, he's probably having a huge reaction to them. Damn, this means he'll have to quit taking them, and run the risk of getting malaria. But he'd stay sick for a week or so."

"I don't like the sound of that, Sandburg. We can't lose Ellison now. Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"I'm afraid not, it'll have to find it's way out of his system, but that takes a long time with these kind of medicines."

The rest of the journey was in silence, except for a few grunts and moans from the sick man in the middle.

* * *

As they reached the hotel, Blair and Simon jumped out of the truck and carefully pulled Ellison out. They half dragged, half carried the limp body to the entrance, where the hotel owner met them.

"Do you have a spare room where we can put him? And is there a doctor anywhere near?"

"Follow me. What happened to him? Is he alright?"

"Allergic reaction to the malaria meds."

Right then, a sturdy looking man appeared. "My name is Christopher Bennett. I'm a doctor. Please tell me exactly what happened," said the man with a British accent.

As they dragged the half-conscious Jim into a room the owner opened for them, Simon relayed what had happened at the elephant pit.

"Alright," the doctor said when Simon finished. "Let's check him out. Lisa? Could you get my bag, please?" A young girl ran up the stairs. Bennett took Jim's wrist and checked his pulse. "Hmm, a bit irregular, but still strong. He seems to have a fever too."

The teenage girl soon returned with the doctor's bag in her hand.

"Thank you, dear. Now let's see." He checked Jim's eyes. "His eyes don't seem to focus right. What's his name?"

"Jim Ellison," Blair quickly replied.

"Mr. Ellison. Look at me please. Try to focus your eyes on me." No result.

Suddenly Jim turned on his side and started retching. Bennett had anticipated and quickly moved a bag underneath the sick man's mouth.

"What malaria medication is he using?"

"Lariam, same as we. But with some medicines he gets a really hefty allergic reaction."

"Yes, I believe that's what's happening to your friend right now too. Unfortunately, mefloquine, that's Lariam, takes a while to get out of your system. He will recover, but it will take a while."

Jim appeared to become a little more alert. He looked up at the man hovering above him, wondering for a while if he was the one responsible for the pain he felt all over. But when he saw Blair and Simon, he knew the man had to be a doctor or something.

"Welcome back, Mr. Ellison. I am Christopher Bennett. You seem to be having quite a violent reaction to the Lariam pills you've been taking. How do you feel?"

"Headache, stomachache, nauseated. Tired, world's spinning. An' body hurts, headache."

"Jim, you already mentioned that," Simon pointed out.

"Twice as bad as the rest," Jim retorted, with a weak grin.

"At least you still managed to keep your sense of humor in that head of yours."

"Well, Mr. Ellison. You're lucky, as you seem to be experiencing mostly the relatively harmless side effects of mefloquine. You'll have to quit taking those. I also suggest you take some Tylenol to lower the fever and help you get rid of you head- and stomachache. And last but not least: rest. You won't be getting out of bed, even if the hotel owner wants to kick you out. The more you rest now, the faster the drug will leave your body. I'll be checking up on you every evening, alright?"

"Doctor's orders, right?"

"Right. I'll be seeing you tonight." With that, Bennett stood up and motioned for the others to follow him out of the room.

Not knowing that Jim could easily hear what he was saying, the doctor said to Simon and Blair: "Make sure he takes his Tylenol, and if he gets disoriënted and confused or gets one of those fear episodes again, give him some Valium to calm him down. I'm in room 112, so if anything changes, you can reach me there, unless I'm touring with my daughter. I'll be back around 7 p.m. tonight to check your friend out."

"Thanks for everything, doc. We'll make sure he takes his meds," Simon assured the doctor.

After that, they returned to Jim, who seemed a bit more coherent than before. With a bewildered look he said: "What happened at that hole? What kind of episodes did I have?"

Simon looked at Blair, not knowing how to answer that particular question. Both men knew that Jim hated being out of control, so neither was keen on telling the sick man that he hadn't been in control for a while. Blair answered: "You kind of weren't yourself. When Simon reached you at the bottom, you were confused and had a look of fear on your face. But you shouldn't worry too much about that, it's one of the side effects of the drug. Go to sleep and work on getting that stuff out of your system."

Blair had hardly said those words, when Jim slipped into the dreamworld, exhausted by the day's activities.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	5. Africa's Horrors

I'm soooo sorry I hadn't updated this story until now, but I never had the inspiration to write the next part. But my muse seems to be back now. I wonder how long it will stay before it runs off again... Anyway, at long last, here's the next chapter!

* * *

**_Lake Manyara Hotel  
Friday, 31st May, 11.45 a.m._**

Jim slowly opened his eyes and saw that the room was still empty. Blair and Simon had gone back to the edge of the forest where they had found Jim, looking for clues. The previous two days they had stayed with their sick friend, but today, Jim had managed to persuade them to continue the search for Daryl. He had assured his friends that he was alright, considering the circumstances.

When Dr. Bennett had come by the evening before, he had said he was surprised that Jim was doing so good. His body was getting rid of the medicine faster than he expected and he would be alright in a couple of days. The Tylenol had helped relieve his headache and lowered his fever, making him feel a bit human again.

He was just about to drop off to sleep again, when he heard excited voices outside. He dialed up his hearing. At first he heard some children talk in Swahili, but then the guide was talking to someone.

"_These children were following the two policemen, when they saw people from another village circle around them and capture them. I assume they were attacked by the same people that killed Masemi and kidnapped the boy. I will go to the place the children saw them last. Do you think I should tell the other man?_"

"_No,_" he heard Dr. Bennett's voice say. "_He won't be able to do anything for a couple of days, and I don't want him worrying right now. It'll only slow his recovery. It's best to put it off for as long as we can, so he can help search when he's fully recovered._"

_No way I'm gonna wait. I'm getting out of here._ Jim slowly got out of bed, trying not to let the room start spinning again. He grabbed his backpack, put a couple of strips of Tylenol in it, along with a few water bottles, spare clips and his jacket. He attached his gun and holster on his belt and quietly left his room. Luckily he didn't encounter many people on his way out, and soon he was on his way, easily following the children's chatter while they showed Halika where they last saw his two friends. His ankle was still a bit tender and stiff, but with the dials lowered a bit, he could manage.

**_Friday, 31st May, 12.15 a.m._**

He felt he couldn't keep up with Halika and the kids. His vision was starting to blur, his ankle was sore and his headache had come back with a vengeance. The voices he was following were growing fainter by the minute. Jim strained to try and find them again, but pulled back. This was no time for a zone-out.

He sat down for a while, memorized the direction the others had gone and waited until the headache subsided a bit.

Half an hour later, Jim slowly got up again and went in the direction where he had last heard Halika and the village children. After a while he reached a small clearing and immediately noticed the marks on the ground. There had been a fight here. The grass was flattened and he found small traces of blood here and there. He started to stand up, when he saw something up ahead. He lowered down to his knees and saw it: something metallic, embedded in a tree, was reflecting the light. He moved over to the tree and found what he had feared. A bullet. With blood. He instinctively knew it wasn't Blair's blood, but it could've been Simon's.

Worry increasing faster every second, Jim looked around for tracks leading away from the clearing. Within minutes, he found what he was looking for. Shoe- and footprints leading away, and a few broken branches. When he looked closer, Jim could see that one pair of shoeprints seemed to belong to a limping man: the left print was clear, but the right print showed a lighter indentation, from someone walking on his toes. Occasionally he found a drop of blood.

Jim let out a small sigh of relief. If Simon was shot – which was now very likely, as he had found only two sets of shoeprints and the rest of them were all barefoot – then it hadn't struck a bone, or Simon wouldn't be walking. On top of that, the wound was probably already bandaged, as there wasn't much blood on the trail. Jim was grateful. It could've been worse. Much worse.

Putting his senses back on full alert, he followed the tracks. He had to sit down and rest a couple of times to let the pain in his ankle and his head subside, before continuing his pursuit.

He smelled it before he could hear it. And he could hear it before he could see it. The smell of death, of decay. The sounds of tortured animals, some screaming in severe agony, others making only small noises as they were minutes away from dying. When Jim reached the top of the small incline he was climbing, what he smelled, heard and finally also saw, broke his heart in two.

Ahead of him, he saw a wall. For several miles it reached, and it was full of thorns. Every 100 feet, there was a gap in the wall. But the gaps weren't empty. In most of the gaps, there were animals. Some small, some tall. Some dead, others still alive.

Jim approached one of the gaps. In it were a Thompson's Gazelle and her fawn, both caught in separate snares. He could see that the mother had a deep cut from the noose and was bleeding badly. The little one was still okay. Though it also had a noose around its neck, it apparently hadn't struggled much.

Jim reached down to free the little thing. It immediately drew back, tightening the noose, afraid of the large creature in front of him.

"Don't worry, little one," said Jim in a soft tone. "I'm only going to help you." He once again reached for the frightened animal.

The gazelle let Jim pull it back a bit and cut the noose with his knife. Once it was free, it bounded away, but halted after a short while. Why wasn't its mother coming?

Jim focussed his attention on the mother. The noose was so tight, that it imbedded itself in the neck on all sides. There was no way to cut it off. Jim cut the noose loose from the wall, so at least the mother could lie down. He had no doubt that the gazelle wouldn't survive.

He watched as the mother knelt down to the ground, the little one making its way toward her. They touched each other's noses, before the mother laid her head down one final time. With what sounded like a cry of grief to Jim, the young gazelle pushed its mother on her side, so it could get his last drink.

Jim left the two in peace and went down the wall, to see if he could help some more animals. His heart sank as he heard only few heartbeats, few signs of life. Most of the traps were filled with dead animals. He stood in front of a tall giraffe, body on the ground, but head held high by the noose. He could still feel some warmth from the animal, indicating it hadn't been dead for very long. As he started to move on, he noticed something strange about the animal, but he couldn't figure out what. Then it struck him: the giraffe had no tail. It had been cut off and judging by the blood on the ground and the wound, it had been done while it was still alive. He looked around and saw more animals that were missing 'valuable' items. Some of them were still alive.

Jim could feel his blood starting to boil, his anger starting to rise even further. The men who did this would certainly pay. They would pay for what they did to his friends, and they would pay twice over for what they did to the animals on this planet. He moved on to free the animals still alive. Most were in too bad a shape to live through the coming night.

He moved back toward the trail, determined to find the people responsible for this horror. When he passed the gazelles, he noticed the little one lying snugly next to its mother.

A noise further up ahead caught his attention. Before long, he saw that an enormous lion was trapped in one of the snares. It hadn't been in there for long, but the trashing around had caused the snare to cut deep into the beast's neck. Jim noticed it was weakening each time it tried to pull free. He felt sympathy for the king of beasts. He knew he couldn't set it free. It would be to dangerous for himself, and for the little gazelle. Jim also remembered the tales about injured lions attacking people. An injured lion can't chase normal prey. Humans were much easier to overtake. That is why it's dangerous to have an injured lion so near to villages.

But Jim couldn't just leave the beast here to suffer a slow, agonising death. He pulled an empty water bottle from his bag and put it over the nuzzle of his gun. He hoped this would silence the shot a bit, so he wouldn't be heard. He also hoped the bullet would go through the thick skull, and not bounce off. It would agonise the lion only more, while he wanted to put the beast out of its misery and agony.

Jim stood up and raised his gun. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and prayed for forgiveness. He then opened his eyes and pulled the trigger. Half with regret, half with relief, he saw the bullet penetrate the skull of the lion. It fell down to the ground with one, last, half-hearted roar.

Shocked by his own action, Jim just stood and stared as the lion took its last breaths. He didn't hear the small tapping, didn't notice anyone approaching. Until he felt something against his leg. He looked down and saw the little gazelle. He knelt down and petted the thing on its head.

"You have to get away from here. Find some of your family. I can't help you anymore." Jim said softly. The gazelle looked up at him with big eyes. "No, don't give me those puppy dog eyes. Blair does that all the time, too."

He stood up and started up the trail again, heading to where hopefully his Guide and Captain were. This time he did hear the tapping. The little thing was following him. He picked it up and placed it in the hollowed out trunk of a nearby baobab tree.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this. It's too dangerous for you to follow me. I will come back and take you somewhere safe, but first I have to find my friends and the people who did all this."

The gazelle looked at him again. Jim cocked his head a bit. Then the gazelle seemed to comply with Jim's decision. It lay down in the soft bedding of the tree.

Jim checked his exact surroundings to make sure he could find the little creature again on his way back, then he moved on.

* * *

**_15.12 p.m._**

He had been walking for forty-five minutes before he heard sounds of a village nearby. Jim focused his hearing in the direction the sounds came from, but heard only people speaking Swahili. Keeping his hearing dialed up for signs of his friends, he carefully made his way to the village.

Soon he reached the end of the forest. The village was right next to the forest. He sat down behind a tree and once more tried to find out if his friends where there. First he listened to heartbeats. He counted 21 heartbeats, until he finally found the one he was looking for: the heartbeat of his Guide, beating slowly and steadily. Jim released the breath he had subconsciously been holding. At least his Guide was alright. Then he heard Blair mumbling something he couldn't make out. _He's probably gagged_, Jim thought.

"_What is it, little man,_" a voice Jim identified as Minscot's said. "_Don't count on getting out of here alive. You and your friends know too much. When the other comes to rescue you, we will capture him too, then you can all die together. How does that sound?_"

Jim heard Blair mumble something through the gag angrily.

"_What's that? You can say it if you want._" Jim could hear Minscot getting up and moving toward Blair, apparently removing the gag.

"_You filthy murderer! You kill all those beast, just so that some rich lady can walk around with a nice fur coat, or swat flies with a giraffe's tail. You are the lowest being on the face of the planet. Even lower than flies that are victim of the animal tails you and your friends sell!_"

"_Ha, I'm way above every animal. Way above you too. Here, I'll prove it to you!_"

When Jim heard a rifle getting locked and loaded, he wasted no time and charged into the village.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

A/N:

Oooh, a cliffhanger!! grins I'm so evil :) What will happen to the Cascadians? Will they survive? Will they leave the continent in once piece? You tell me, because I have no clue at all :)

I hope for your sakes that I'll be able to write the next chapter soon, because this cliffhanger is just cruel.

Can you imagine the coincidences? While I was writing the part about the two gazelles, I was listening to "The Sacred Bird" of Miss Saigon, in which Kim sacrifices her life for that of her son, Tam. And while I was writing the part about the trapped lion, the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" came up. And to top it all off, I heard "We Are the World" as I finished up the part about the poachers' traps. Seems pretty fitting music for this chapter, doesn't it?

To my reviewers:

First of all: Thank you sooo much for your reviews!

I wanted my first fic to be a nice long fic, with all the extras. And yes, I am Dutch :) But that wasn't the only reason they flew to Schiphol first, because it really was the fastest flight from Seattle to Tanzania, with the least stopovers. I don't know why I put the Dutch movie in, but I guess I just felt I had to make the chapter a bit larger before moving on to the next :)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. We'll get to 'some' action in the next chapter. So review please, because that's what keeps my muse from running away!


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